PLUS: New research on public sector workplace discrimination
NEW RESEARCH
Iceland, Norway, and the Netherlands have the highest levels of LGBTI acceptance
An update to the Williams Institute's Global Acceptance Index (GAI), a measure of the relative level of social acceptance of LGBTI people and rights in each country, finds that average levels of acceptance for LGBTI people and their rights have increased globally since 1980. Iceland, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Canada are the top five most accepting countries, and all have significantly increased their levels of acceptance since 2010.
More than one-quarter of LGBT state and local employees have experienced discrimination at work
More than one in four (28%) LGBT state and local government employees have experienced discrimination or harassment at work because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Approximately 85% of them said that it was motivated by their employer’s religious beliefs. In contrast, 53% of LGBT employees in private sector jobs said that religious beliefs motivated the unfair treatment against them.
Lifetime experiences of discrimination or harassment among LGBT state and local government employees
The federal bench has a staggering lack of LGBTQ judges
By Brad Sears in the Los Angeles Times
Today in California, where about 100 judges preside in federal trial and appellate courts, just two are openly LGBTQ. LGBTQ Californians make up over 5% of the state’s adult population and over 11% of the state’s youth. Yet there is only one openly LGBTQ judge among the state’s 74 federal district court judges and only one among the 9th Circuit’s 29 active appellate judges. It’s time for our two senators and President Biden to address this lack of diversity on the bench.
Every day, federal judges make decisions that affect our lives in important ways. They determine the breadth of our fundamental rights, ensure fairness in criminal proceedings and occasionally make decisions that change the course of history.
While the federal courts strive to be above the fray, their decisions are often viewed through the lens of partisan politics. But even when judicial decisions may be unpopular, they have more credibility when they are made by a judiciary that reflects the nation’s full diversity.
